End of the suspense this Thursday evening, probably late, on the identity of the next secretary general of the CGT who must succeed Philippe Martinez who a priori should be a secretary general. Usually, this election takes place at the end of the convention, on Friday morning. The debates risking to last, it was decided to bring forward the meeting of the “parliament” of the central made up of the number one of the federations and departmental unions – the National Confederal Committee (CCN) – which is responsible for designating the number One .
Objective: that the delegates gathered all week in Clermont-Ferrand are all there for the announcement of the choice of, or rather therefore, of the Secretary General.
Balance of power
We know a little more about the evolution of the internal balance of power after the first meeting of this National Confederal Committee which took place on Wednesday evening. As provided for in the statutes, its mission was to define the list of candidates presented to the vote of the delegates to constitute the executive commission (EC) of the CGT; a body which is made up of about sixty members and constitutes the extended management of the plant. It is all the more important as this is where the secretary general is drawn from, as well as the confederal office of about ten members who manage the confederation on a daily basis.
One thing has been acquired since this Thursday morning: Olivier Mateu, representative of the ultras of the confederation, the only one to have officially declared himself a candidate against Marie Buisson, was not included in the list validated by the CCN. The delegates however have the possibility of adding to the future EC names which do not appear there (and moreover of deleting it). But it seems unlikely that the Secretary General of the Departmental Union of Bouches-du-Rhône will manage to pass the 50% threshold which alone would allow him to enter the EC and run for the position of number one.
A vote by mandates
If Olivier Mateu has therefore not been added, the list has still been extended a little. But the balance has not been changed since two supporters of Céline Verzeletti, supported by many federations, and two supporters of Marie Buisson, candidate of Philippe Martinez, were added after a discussion which lasted until 3 o’clock in the morning.
In this context, the result of the CCN’s vote on the list of names thus finalized leaned in favor of Marie Buisson, even if it is far from the usual scores for a Works Council proposal in the plant: 54.16% voted for the list and 45.84% against. A score obtained thanks to the support of a very large number of departmental unions (60) and 11 federations, 17 federations and 24 departmental unions having voted against.
Opponents of the dauphine of Philippe Martinez succeeded in imposing a vote according to the number of members and not by organization (where the first federation of the CGT weighs as much as the smallest departmental union). It was necessary that 35 structures request it. There were 40. In the end, this reinforces the value of this result.
play the opening
Marie Buisson had emerged very weakened from the rejection of the vote on the activity report to which she had committed herself by presenting the opening report of the congress. She won the second set on Wednesday night. But the games are not over.
She has said nothing for the moment about the composition of the confederal office which she will surround herself with to lead; a team that must also be elected by the SCC. To be sure of winning, he must play the opening.
One of its difficulties is to reconcile this requirement with the commitments it has already made to some of its supporters. She would thus have the project to integrate a representative of the food industry, a federation which has among its specificities to be a member of the FSM, a world organization to which a number of dictatorship unions are affiliated (a vice-president is linked to the Mullahs Iranians). Which could have a repulsive effect for many.
More generally, it is still necessary that opponents agree to join his team, which seems for the moment compromised as the tensions have increased. And “if she can’t open her office, she won’t come through,” said a federation leader.
But there remains an important step before the meeting of the CCN: it is the election by the congress of the executive committee during which the scores in particular of Marie Buisson and Céline Verzeletti will be closely watched. They must be proclaimed at the beginning of the evening.
